Category: Payment Processing

Merchants have many options for accepting online payments. “PayPal Payments Standard” is popular, but it can be challenging for Google Analytics to report the sale.

Using PayPal Payments Standard, customers leave the merchant’s website for their account at PayPal. After they complete payment, customers are redirected by PayPal back to the URL provided by the merchant.

There are two issues that can impact reporting in Google Analytics from this process.

First, the customer may not make it back to the merchant’s order confirmation page to trigger ecommerce reporting in Google Analytics. If the return URL is not set properly, the customer may not go back at all or may go back to the merchant’s home page or some other page. None will trigger the Google Analytics ecommerce code. A correct return URL will send the customer back to the order confirmation page, and the Google Analytics ecommerce code fires upon arrival.

This return URL is typically provided by the ecommerce platform in the payment settings. In PayPal, the return URL settings reside behind the gear icon in the top-right after logging in. – Read more

Online shopping is booming, of that there is no doubt. It’s reported that 87% of UK consumers have bought at least one product online in the past 12 months [1], with just over half of all online payments made on a mobile device [2]. With this being the case it’s becoming more vital than ever that hotels, venues and other hospitality businesses which sell products or services online, are using quality payment processing systems.

The following article outlines five of the best ranked online payment processing systems available today. For more advice on which platform offers the best features for your business speak to LeadDigital, contact us today.

Stripe

As stated on their website, Stripe is very much a payment platform designed for developers. Their robust API allows for easy integrations with minimal code writing, whilst also supporting the latest ecommerce developments, such as social selling on Twitter. Stripe can accept 135+ currencies and all major credit & debit cards.

Pricing: 1.4% + 20p per transaction for European cards, 2.9% + 20p for non-EU cards for ‘pay as you go’. Enterprise edition also available upon request.

PayPal

As the World’s #1 online payment processing service, we couldn’t exactly miss PayPal off this list – with 197 million active customer accounts, 15 million merchants and over 4.9 billion payments being processed yearly [3]! Its popularly is partially down to how long PayPal has been established, but also how friendly the platform is for its users. They offer a feature rich service that integrates with virtually all online shopping carts, working across all devices.

Pricing: From 3.4% + 20p to 1.9% + 20p per transaction when adding to an existing checkout. Fixed monthly charges when selling through PayPal, based on sales volume.

Amazon Pay

In 2016 Amazon reported 310 million active customers worldwide [4]. Amazon Pay enables ecommerce businesses to utilise the information held on each Amazon customer, so as to conveniently and securely, speed up payment processing online. The experience for consumers is similar to buying on Amazon, helping maintain trust in transactional security. This is also beneficial to merchants, as a method to validate buyers and prevent fraudulent transactions.

Pricing: 3.4% + 20p to 1.4% + 20p for UK payment processing based on transaction volumes. An additional charge of up-to 1.5% can apply for payments issued outside of the UK.

Authorize.Net

Authorize.Net have been in the online payments marketplace since 1996, and with over 440,000 merchant customers today, they are often considered the most widely adopted payment platform available. Advanced features like automated recurring billing and their fraud detection suite help Authorize.Net stand out, as does their award winning customer support.

Pricing: 2.49% + 15p per transaction with a monthly fee of £19, all additional services included free of charge.

WooCommerce

If you’re a WordPress user then you should serious consider WooCommerce – as it’s an ecommerce platform designed specifically for WordPress. They power over 28% of all online stores [5] and have created a range of features that enable tight integration with WordPress, alongside over 300 free and paid extensions! Beyond this they offer secure and trusted payment gateways, and even support businesses with marketing through coupons and reviews.

What About Mobile Payments?

Whilst all of the above systems provide features for mobile payment processing, there are some companies who are simply experts on the subject. A few examples of these include Square, QuickBooks GoPaymentfrom Intuit and Google’s own Google Wallet (popular for Android users).

If you’re still not certain which payment processing platform offers the best tools for your hospitality brand, then speak with an expert at LeadDigital. We have a long history of supporting businesses in their ecommerce activities, so know the best ways to get the most from services available!